Before upgrading
BowlingCommunity.com I created a separate "test board" where I imported all the members and a single forum from the existing community and also created a test forum and a suggestions/questions forum. It was up for only seven days. I heavily promoted it throughout
BowlingFans.com, linking to a features/change list and explained everything and why the change was needed so all the active members knew this is they'd soon be using.
I got a few questions about the new features. But mostly compliments. The biggest complaint my users had was the number of ads and the addition of ads between the 1st and 2nd post so I removed a few other ads from the left column. And the complaints stopped.
I believe if you give your users a preview of whats coming and the opportunity to make suggestions BEFORE you make the change the resistance to the change is much reduced as they feel more involved.
